If you find yourself driving through East Oahu this weekend and think a certain stretch of shoreline looks a little nicer – you're probably right.

In Waimanalo on Friday morning, supervised inmates from the Oahu Community Correctional Center dodged morning traffic on Kalanianaole Highway to go to work. Trash was hauled out, invasive plants were removed, all thanks to a special group of men putting in hard work under the hot sun.

Their mission? Beautify Waimanalo – and turn their own lives around in the process.

Three days a week, for the past 15 weeks, between 15 and 20 inmates have toiled in the hot sun as part of the project.

"The response from the OCCC work line is awesome. I mean, they're all in one mode to give back to our community," said Andy Jamila, president of the Waimanalo Construction Coalition and current organizer of the project.

The effort was originally started 12 years ago by the late Aunty Elaine Nickie Ahuna Hines, a Hawaiian musician and long time Waimanalo resident.

"It's a win-win situation, because we get the labor of love from them, and we get the efforts, and as you can see, the view and restoration of this park – it's just a million dollar view," Jamila said.

"Some of them, they so appreciative coming out here, they even work for free," added Uncle Richard "Bolo" Kahawai, a special projects coordinator at OCCC. "They talking when they get out, they come back and help the community clean up the place."

The inmates have spent weeks cutting down view-stealing hale koa trees along Kalanianaole Highway. An estimated 12 tons of trash left behind by illegal campers and homeless have also been cleaned out.